Kharkiv – The court hearing of a case against former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko concerning financial abuse within the United Energy Systems of Ukraine (UESU) Corporation has been adjourned until 1000 on December 18.
“The court ruled that it is impossible to consider the case in the absence of Tymoshenko and her defense lawyer Yevhenia Tymoshenko [the ex-premier’s daughter]. The court announces a break in the hearing until 1000 on December 18,” the presiding judge in the trial on the case, Kostiantyn Sadovsky, announced in Kharkiv on Friday.
The judge added that Tymoshenko’s motion to close the criminal case would be considered.
This was the eleventh court hearing of the UESU case to be postponed due to the absence of Tymoshenko.
Tymoshenko is charged under five episodes in the case – organization of the appropriation of public funds in an especially large amount in 1997-1998 via illicit receiving of value added tax (VAT) (Part 3 of Article 27, Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), attempt to appropriate public funds in an especially large amount in 1997-1998 via illicit receiving of VAT (Part 3 of Article 27, Part 2 of Article 15, Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code), tax evasion by the UESU Corporation (Part 3 of Article 27, Part 3 of Article 212 of the Criminal Code), non-payment of income tax (Part 3 of Article 212 of the Criminal Code), and committing a crime via official forgery (Part 3 of Article 27, Part 2 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code).
A preliminary hearing of the case was held on April 19, 2012 in the absence of Tymoshenko. Since then the court has been putting off hearings due to the fact that Tymoshenko kept refusing to attend the hearings due to her state of health.
On October 11, 2011, Pechersky District Court in Kyiv sentenced Tymoshenko to seven years in prison for abuse of office in signing gas contracts with Russia in 2009. She has served her sentence in Kachanivska Penal Colony in Kharkiv since late December 2011.
On May 9, 2012, Tymoshenko was transferred to Central Clinical Hospital No. 5 in Kharkiv to undergo a treatment course in line with recommendations made by doctors from the Berlin-based Charite Clinic.
On October 29, Tymoshenko went on hunger strike to protest alleged vote rigging during the parliamentary elections in Ukraine, and finished it on November 15.
On November 22, the Penitentiary Service of Ukraine said that Tymoshenko again in written refused to attend the hearing of the UESU case at Kharkiv-based Kyivsky District Court on November 23.
“The convict said that currently she undergoes rehabilitation procedures at hospital and in connection with this she refused to attend the court hearing,” the penitentiary service said.
